A good thorough study of three blogs from an on-line jewellery store.

One is more successful than the others and its interesting to see how each one compares.

MarketingSherpa > Blog Marketing for Ecommerce Sites — 7 Rules & Lessons Learned

How many raving press stories have you seen on corporate blogging recently? We decided to take a look under the hood of one ecommerce site’s blogs that have gotten enormous press attention. Are they really as successful as everyone makes out? The answer is … a mixed maybe:

Looking through New South Books back catalogue you can see they have a number of books that embrace very specific and often passionate niches. There are books about Rosa Parkes and Mohammad Ali!

They are keeping their readers updated with what their authors are doing!

A good blog use. Here is an excerpt from their recent blog post and a link to their blog.

However, if you missed Reverend Graetz last night, you can still catch a video interview with him from WSFA TV in Montgomery; just follow the link and search for keyword: Graetz. Reverend Graetz will also sign copies of his book at an open house at the mmanuel Presbyterian Church on August 6.

NewSouth Books

A good example of a business reaching out to it’s community.
Jamie writes in an natural, converstional style about what is going on in his life.

He is even coming to Australia!

There are also links to products he sells and events that are planned.

Jamie Oliver: Jamie’s Diary

A sign of the times.

Penguin dips it’s toe in the blogging pool.
Liked their description of what the blog will be about.

“an editor will post the latest news from the company:
new acquisitions, sneak previews from works
in progress of some of Penguin’s best-loved
authors, industry gossip and advice on
how to get published”.

Which will be invaluable for many.

Eoin Purcell, from a small publishing house has been
active in this soace for a while.

Wonder what Eoin has to say about this?

The Penguin Blog

Penguin Books launches the first blog from a mainstream publisher on Monday 31st July. Having led the way in bringing publishing into the digital age with its award-winning podcasts, Penguin’s blog will be a destination where an editor will post the latest news from the company: new acquisitions, sneak previews from works in progress of some of Penguin’s best-loved authors, industry gossip and advice on how to get published.

I always try to highlight people’s view on making moneu blogging.
From earlier posts you will know that I’ve managed to do that but us always interesting to learn of ways others are making money from blogging.

Spero News | How to make money from a blog as a marketing tool

“Can I make money from a blog?” and “How do I make money from a blog?”

Those two and other similar questions have appeared repeatedly both on blogs and my email inbox for some time. The fact that so many people are asking those questions implies that there is quite a bit of confusion, especially for those who are new to a blog or blogging.

Here’s a story about “La Petite Anglaise” who got the sack even though she did not reveal her name or her employers.

Telegraph | News | Wrote blog and got the sack. V bad. Will sue

That got me thinking. I wonder how many of us actually have a blogging policy?

Check out this excellent blogging policy here.

Corporate Engagement: Australian law firm urges clients to adopt employee blogging policies

Here is an excerpt to get you started.

“The suggested policies include:

• outline who is entitled to blog: whether all employees may blog
  or only specified personnel (for example, those in certain positions or
  who have attended appropriate training sessions);
• Ideally, the policy should require the employee to use a disclaimer on the blog to this effect;
• inform employees of the relevant authorisation processes for the publishing of blogs (particularly marketing blogs);
• notify employees of any monitoring of the blogging of employees
  that the company will carry out in accordance with the Workplace
  Surveillance Act 2005 (NSW);
• provide that the company’s confidential information must not be disclosed;
• provide that employees must not make use of the company’s intellectual property without obtaining authorization;
• require employees to ensure the accuracy of any information published;
• make employees aware of the law of defamation and prohibit
  employees from making defamatory statements and/or statements that are
  contrary to the strategic and commercial interests of the enterprise;
• prohibit employees from making discriminatory comments; and
• prohibit employees from using blogs to engage in illegal conduct.”

[WordBiz] Tip #3: How to address *time* – still the top fear for corporate bloggers

When asked what their “top concern” is about launching and maintaining a company blog, 59% say “the time it would take.” The second biggest concern, at 57%, is “what to write about.”

How many companies in the UK are blogging? Not many, it seems, according to

a list compiled by Suw Charman. Not many at all. The list isn’t fully comprehensive, but it highlights the dearth of business blogs in the UK, compared to US.

The 12 reasons why UK businesses don’t blog | Internet Marketing News and Blog | E-consultancy.com

Rob Enderie rights about CEO’s and diversity

Technology News: Commentary: Blog-Inspired Thoughts on CEOs, Diversity and Whiners at Tech Firms

CEO failures are typically due to one of four things:

* Competence: They don’t have the skills;
* Integrity: They are more or less crooks;
* Scope: The company is too broken;
* Intelligence: The CEO is not getting the information he or she needs to make good decisions in a timely fashion.